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Welcome! Artfully Musing is a blog dedicated to sharing art and the techniques and products used. I'll be showcasing collage, altered and mixed media art as well as miniature. I hope you'll check back often and are inspired. Thanks for visiting! Laura

Saturday, March 22, 2014

I’ve been working on so many “pretty”
projects lately I decided to do a steampunk themed one to get the taste of pink
out of my mouth.

The top of the dress is made
from 2 sets of chipboard
corsets. I used two so that I could
make the dress 3-D.

On the back of the two pieces
of corset I used a piece of tape to join them.
I did this for both sets of corsets.
I used a tissue paper texture technique to cover the corsets back and front (click
here for the video tutorial). Don't glue the pieces of the corset together as you need a little give in the centers when you bend them slightly to attach the two sets together. After
applying the tissue paper, I stained them with Vintage Photo stain and then
applied some Inca Gold Gilders Paste. I
thought the finished result looked like worn leather.

The black piping on the
corset is stickers. The stickers work
great as they are pliable and you can apply them along a curve. I used silk ribbon to lace up one set of
corsets.

The shoulder straps are made
from braiding 3 pieces of wire. I used
filigree butterflies (that are easy to bend) to attach the two corsets
together.

To make the dress I used beaded
lace and velvet fabric (from my stash) and black
tulle.

Once I finished adding all of
the embellishments and fabric, I mounted the dress onto a stand made from
gluing together wooden candlestick holders.
I painted them black then highlighted them with Gilders Paste. The holders are the perfect size to fit
between the corsets.

The final touch is the ray
gun perhaps used to deal with unruly aliens.
It’s made from clock parts from my stash, a fuse and a domed apothecary
bottle.

Vintage
Brass Butterflies & Filigree Set – used the filigree butterfly to
attach the corsets to each other – cut one of the other pieces into 4 pieces
and used them to cover where the wire straps are attached to the corset

Saturday, March 15, 2014

As soon as I saw the raw assemblage
alarm clock I knew I would have to do something with it. This month’s Alpha
Stamps corset theme gave me the perfect excuse. There are two things I love about altering a
clock; turning a functional item into a piece of art the many surfaces to junk
up!

From a theme perspective I
decided on a Victorian corset shop. I didn’t leave a single
surface untouched and even added the sign post to stickup beyond the top of the
clock.

The clock is accented with
gorgeous paper flowers which I chose and Alpha Stamps graciously agreed to
carry. I particularly love the sweet
miniature tulips which are perfect for this time of year and for Easter
themed projects.

The inside of the clock is super
deep so there is lots of room for dimensional embellishments.

Notice the embossed design on
the sides of the clock and on the bells.
The tutorial will cover how I achieved the embossed design, the
embellishment and re-assembly of the clock.

TUTORIAL

I started by removing the
back of the clock and then loosening the screws inside that keep the tabs in
place. The tabs are used to hold the glass
against the front of the clock. I
removed the screws and tabs and then removed the glass. I screwed the screws back in place (as they
hold the bells and legs in position) but not the tabs. Once the clock was altered, I did not intend
to open it up again, so I decided I could glue the glass in place rather than
using the tabs. Besides, the tabs are
not attractive and get in the way of the embellishments inside of the clock.

The next step was to create
the embossed design on the outside of the clock. I accomplished this by attaching chipboard
scrolls, Dresden and stickers to the clock.
If you are going to attach something like chipboard to a curved surface,
I suggested you pre-bend the chipboard making it easier to glue in place.

Below, I walk through each
step of the embossed design technique using a piece of chipboard, as I thought
this would make it easier for you to see how it is done. This technique can be used on any surface.

Next, paint your
surface. In the case of the clock I started
with white Gesso, as it seem to stick better to the metal than acrylic paint. I could have used a metal paint but since
there was so much surface area, it would have been much more expensive. This piece is a decorative one so Gesso or acrylic paint should work fine. If your
piece were going to be handled frequently you might want to use a metal paint. It took me 3 coats to block out the silver
metal of the clock.

Next, I started adding color
by painting the surface with an off white acrylic paint.

I added more color by dry
brushing the surface with green paint (leaving some of the cream showing).

Lastly, I used my finger to
apply Gilders Paste to the raised surfaces.

In the picture below you can
see the clock painted with the Gesso.
One thing to note is to be careful not to paint the area where the back
fits back into the clock. The back fits
snugly and paint buildup will prevent it from fitting into the clock. I used a little sandpaper to sand away the
paint before inserting the back into the clock.

Below are pictures of the
finished embossed design technique.

It now looks like the
Dresden, stickers and chipboard are molded to the clock. My husband upon see the clock though I had
made it from a mold. I explained that it
was a metal shell of a real clock and molding a clock was a little out of my ability. LOL

I dressed up the bells of the
clock with teardrop
fused pearls. The bells made me
think of Victorian lamps with hanging beads, which is something I thought a Victorian
shop would have.

I absolutely love any kind of
signs so I though adding a chipboard sign to the front of the corset shop would
add a perfect touch.

For a final touch, I added a
piece of lace to the bottom of the sign.
The sign is glued to the rim of the clock, which was done before adding
the flowers.

To decorate the inside of the
clock, I first added paper then a 4
inch gold doily. Next, I applied rub-ons
from my stash, and then a clock
face popped up with a piece of double stick foam tape.

I added the image of the
woman which is popped up further than the clock, and then the window (popped
out even further) which is painted with Picket Fence Crackle paint and backed
with an image. There is lots of room to
create as much depth and dimension as you like.

I glued Gold
Dresden Myrtle Leaves to the inside of the glass and glued flowers to the
inside bottom of the clock. Once all the
pieces were decorated, I glued the glass in position and inserted the back of
the clock back into place. The last
step was to decorate the front of the clock with flowers.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

For all you altered cigar box
fans I have a project that is right up your alley. By combining multiple cigar boxes you can
create a piece of art that is also functional.
Hunt down some boxes, choose your theme and you’re good to go.

In the sample, I envisioned a
vintage writing chest that carried all of the essentials of proper communication,
perhaps traveling with an elegant woman during Jane Austen’s time.

Of course there are so many
uses for a chest like this such as jewelry, keepsakes or maybe a place to store
your favorite pieces of art.

In addition to the using the
images in the writing chest I also used the digital images to create my blog
header and Email Me button.

The digital
image set includes all of the images in the collage sheet plus many more
for a total of 98 images. Along with
more images, the digital image set gives you much more flexibility in printing
just the images you want, and in resizing the images to your particular needs.

TUTORIAL

In this tutorial I’ll cover
how to alter, decorate and assemble cigar boxes to create a chest. There is also a companion downloadable PDF
document which includes the information covered in the tutorial. Further down in this post you will find the
complete list of the products I used on the sample chest.

If you choose to keep the
look of the cigar boxes for your chest you will need to replace the cigar box
edging paper. Below are links to free
collage sheets with edgings. I suggest
you print the edgings on thin glossy paper as it will look like the real thing
and be thin enough to wrap and glue to the box edges. I use what is called glossy “presentation” or
“brochure” paper made for inkjet printers. You can find it online and at office supply
stores.